A terrible thing happened on Friday, December 14. An elementary school was attacked by a knife wielding maniac in Henan Province, China. Twenty four children at the tender age of 6 to 11 were wounded by the madman, before adults were able to subdue him. Similar tragedies in the past have rocked Chinese society.

A terrible thing happened on Friday, December 14. An elementary school was attacked by a gun toting maniac in Connecticut. Twenty children at the tender age of 6 to 11, as well as 6 adults were killed by the madman, before he took his own life. Similar tragedies in the past have rocked American Society.

In China, twenty four children will have mental and physical scars, and they will live. In the U.S. twenty children will have burial stones and the hearts of their parents are forever broken.In China there is no NRA.

Christiaan Morssink, Ph.DBoard Member

Here at PNA, the events of last week came with shock and horror. The violent fate of the 26 victims in Newtown, combined with the tragedy of the community left us all in disbelief. These events keep happening, yet so far, no solution has been presented. We are tired of hearing about lone gunmen ambushing ordinary civilians as they go about their daily activities. PNA believes that arms control is not something you can just foist on other countries. It is something that should guide all societies and encourage a civil dialogue. Yes, nuclear weapons are a grave threat, but so are Bushmaster assault rifles and the ubiquitous 9mm handgun. On average 30,000 Americans die from gun violence every year (equivalent to the casualties from a small nuclear strike!). That is highest of any developed country. What is more, if this violence was perpetrated by an outside country or force we would quickly disarm and pacify this foe. The problem arises in that we consistently fail to confront our fellow citizens on this issue. The 2nd Amendment is a constitutional right, but like other rights, it has the ability to shift and change with the times. The purpose of the 2nd Amendment is to maintain a prepared citizenry in case a of a massive national emergency such as an invasion (like the War of 1812) or settlers in the case of national expansion. As it stands, the US has not settled any new lands for over 100 years and if the US was invaded you would need folks like PNA to pressure our leaders to not to push the button. That said, it’s time for a shift on the 2nd Amendment. The weapons of the 18th and 19th century have no equivalent in today’s civilian arsenals. If Adam Lanza, the perpetrator of the Newtown Elementary School shooting, was unable to obtain sophisticated weapons it is possible that fewer lives would have been lost or that the descent from anger to murder may have been mitigated due to a dearth of high-power weaponry. There needs to be a ban on assault weapons. To paraphrase President Obama, the tools of soldiers have no use in civilian hands. We must remember that violence always destroys. The question we must ask is how to rebuild in its wake.